(Reuters) – Canon Inc (7751.T) Chief Executive Fujio Mitarai said his company had the funds and willingness for more acquisitions this year after a planned 23.6 billion Swedish crown ($2.8 billion) takeover of network video surveillance leader Axis AB (AXIS.ST).

Mitarai has been leading efforts to find higher-growth businesses to complement Canon’s imaging expertise, and help the Japanese company expand beyond a camera market under attack from smartphones sporting competitive image-capturing capabilities.

Canon’s offer for Axis represented a premium of nearly 50 percent to the stock price before the announcement, a price some analysts said was high enough to ward off rival bids.

“If you buy a cheap company, you need to spend on drastic restructuring,” Mitarai told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. “I only buy good companies, even if they’re expensive.”

Canon, which earned over 80 percent of revenue overseas in 2014, said it would pay for its biggest purchase ever in cash. It held 845 billion yen ($7.05 billion) in cash and cash equivalents at the end of December.

We’re told that the next L lens from Canon will be a prime and it will be coming in late summer/early fall of this year. While the source wasn’t sure what lens was coming for sure, they did let us know that prototypes for a replacement of the 35L were out there. This has been a long rumoured lens for replacement, with multiple patents for the optical formula throughout the years.

For the moment, lens production capacity is what will dictate when new lenses are announced. The brand new EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II has been out of stock around the globe at major retailers for a long while now, so I’m sure that has priority for Canon. As well as the brand new and highly touted EF 11-24mm f/4L.

The only other primes I’ve had multiple discussions about are replacements for the EF 200 f/2L IS and EF 800 f/5.6L IS. Just like the 35L however, those mentions have been around for years. Interestingly, there hasn’t been talk of new TS-E lenses in a long time.

Outside of that, we’re still waiting on a new non L 50mm lens as well as a non L/non DO 70-300 replacement.

The flood of reviews for the brand new Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L are starting to come in. I think the theme of all the reviews is going to be the same. “Yes, it costs a lot, but it’s awesome”. I’m still waiting to receive mine, and watching other people shoot with it is not a good substitute while I wait.

PetaPixel is next with their review of the lens and it includes a lot of sample images.

“The Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM is heavy and bulky. It is also thrice as costly as the Sigma, which offers slightly narrower focal length and less brightness. However, if image quality (in terms of distortion and sharpness) and flare control is important to you, then there is really no contest between the two lenses. The Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM is an outstanding performer in the rarefied group of ultra-wide SLR zoom lenses, by itself or compared to other super wide zooms.”